Motorola Razr: Folding instead of unfolding
The first Motorola Razr was released in 2004 and has achieved cult status among mobile phones in the following years. Now there is a new edition. You can fold it too, but you're holding a fully-fledged Android smartphone in your hand.
Motorola is taking a different approach to Samsung or Huawei with its foldable smartphone. While you can make the display of the Galaxy Fold and Mate X larger by unfolding it, the hinge on the Razr is used to make the smartphone smaller.
Folding together instead of unfolding
When unfolded, the OLED display of the Motorola Razr measures 6.2 inches. This makes it similar in size to many other current smartphones. The resolution of 2142×876 pixels is unusual. With its 21:9 aspect ratio, the screen should also be suitable for films, but does not achieve full HD resolution.
Compared to other current smartphones, the frame around the display is large and chunky. There is even a protruding bead at the bottom edge. When folded, however, this is flush with the cover of the Razr. There is a second touchscreen on the outside, which has a diagonal of 2.7 inches and a resolution of 800×600 pixels. It is primarily intended for notifications and music playback, for example.
Motorola promises that the folding hinge means that "both halves lie on top of each other without any gap" and therefore "the flexible display is completely sealed when closed". This should protect it from dust and dirt. Incidentally, the entire smartphone is water-repellent, but not waterproof. In other words: rain is not a problem, but submersion is.
The Motorola Razr has two cameras. When opened, the inner camera takes selfies with five megapixels and video chats. The main camera has a resolution of 16 megapixels. If you fold up the Razr, you can also use it for selfies via the outer display.
Equipment suffers from long development time
When it comes to the features of the Razr, I have the feeling that the long development time of the foldable smartphone is noticeable. According to Motorola, it has built and extensively tested 20 prototypes. While Samsung and Huawei packed their foldable smartphones with the best technology available at the time of launch, Motorola seems more reserved with the Razr. However, the Snapdragon 710 and six gigabytes of RAM should still be enough for Android 9 Pie to run smoothly. Motorola has not yet said anything about an update to Android 10. The manufacturer has left the operating system in its tidy original state and has dispensed with its own user interface. Only the Moto Actions are pre-installed as special control elements.
The 128 gigabyte internal memory should generally be large enough. The battery, on the other hand, seems to me to have a capacity of 2510 mAh. It is charged via a USB-C port. You unlock the Razr via a fingerprint sensor and you cannot insert a SIM card. The smartphone only uses eSIM.
Retro mode
Motorola has also hidden a little gimmick in the Razr. There is a retro mode in which the display takes on the design of the original Razr mobile - including the T9 buttons on the lower half.
Price and availability
The Razr will be available in the first European countries in December. In Germany, however, the sales launch for the black version has so far been vaguely described as the first half of 2020. There is no price yet. For orientation: In the USA, it will cost 1499 dollars. <p
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.